The Eleven

by Adrian Popa

  After a while he stumbles back seemingly tired. Looks like it's my win, it was a good fight but I guess all things end. With a tone of confidence in my voice I tell him.

  "Looks like your days of illegal smuggling has come to an end, sorry to rain on your parade"

  With that I take out my magazine and quickly reach for the one in my holster. In a split second everything could of been over. But he had a smile on his face, he was happy. No, he wouldn't be happy about dying, but rather he had something up his sleeve. At that moment I saw the knife he had previously "dropped" charging at me mid air. Looks like he never dropped it in the first place. He was using it as a failsafe. It was already too close for me to react. And just as I was sure that he had got me it stopped mid air right in front of my face with a gunshot. My finger hadn't fired the trigger yet and I didn't feel a recoil. It wasn't me. I turned around, and a bullet hole appeared on his head. As his limp body began falling, I saw who the mystery person was, the person who helped me out during the previous three on one, and the person who followed me here to save me. It was a surprise to me, but I kind of expected it, somewhere deep inside me had expected this. Instead of feeling mad the only thing I could do was put on a smug grin and say casually.

  "What a surprise, Lily".

  Chapter 17

  It was a quiet morning. I had been woken up by a message from my phone. I check my phone and see that the sender was private. Which could only mean one thing, looks like John is back. I read the message.

  "Hello Adam, It has appeared that I had not updated you in a while."

  Like I need your updates, I could do well enough without accepting your little game. I continue to read

  "Your next target is one Jack Frost, I trust you can do what you need to get to him"

  Well looks like it's on to number five. Jack Frost huh, an interesting name to say the least, well time to get surfing. Looks like this guy used to be an ex-police man. Didn't exactly work for any of the higher ups like the Nexus, but did his fair share of work. Got himself quite a reputation. Looks like he was fired because of his over aggressive attitude and lack of following most common rules when enforcing people. Looks to me like he's just a power hunger police man. He also seems to be enforcing the law to this day even though he was put off from his police force. He exerts force using the tiny guns he had and apparently goes around killing criminals. Looks like the catch is that his definition of criminal is just about anyone that looks even slightly suspicious, he assaults any random passerby under the suspicion of illicit activities and usually ends up leaving after a while, none the less he has caused major harm and even deaths of innocents for simply no reason. The power has surely gone to his head by now, if he's let loose even more than there's no telling what he will do. Various police forces have tried to stop him but he's dodged most of them. Looks like he's not from this area, he moved quite a bit dodging any police that had sent an order for his arrest. Despite his past deeds from when he was still in the force, it doesn't matter now that he's gone and attacked random people. I have a hunch but since word hasn't exactly reached this area yet I can guess that this area might be on his next list to "enforce justice". From the looks of it, if he does decide to crash this area, it might take a day or two to get settled in, if that's the case I better get surveillance work done. Calling Rat might work, but since there is the chance that he might not come and his random time of coming in might cost quite a bit to rely on him. Looks like I have no other choice, I haven't exactly called him for help but there's a first time for everything. I reach for my phone to make a call. The door opens slowly as I'm about to dial the last number, at the door way was Lily. She says to me sleepily.

  "So, what you up to?"

  "Ah, just about to make a little call"

  "Got another one?"

  "Yeah, you can say that"

  "Need any information digging?"

  "Hmm, I think I might have everything I need to know, but if you're bored, than go ahead, his name is Jack Frost"

  "Jack Frost? Are you sure he's real?"

  "Positive"

  "Alright then, I'll see you later"

  Lily walks back to her room and closes the door. I dial up his number again and press call. He picks up pretty quickly and with a rough voice he says.

  "What"

  "Is that anyway to greet someone who has a job for you, Jeff?"

  "No, but it's the goddamn morning, even criminals gotta sleep"

  "Well, if sleep is the only thing keeping you down, than you must have nothing to worry about"

  "Hah, that is true, so what's up?"

  "I need some basic surveillance work done"

  "As with anyone who calls me, area and time?"

  "A three day surveillance of my area, I'll text you the complete area I want at your secondary number"

  Jeff always did like to work using two different handles. His primary one is for calls but for map layouts he always preferred a text to his other number. The area that I had in mind would cover a good portion of this city. If he made it in here within this three day time frame than he's as good as mine. According to this if he does stick to his own pattern, than it should be alright, but if it ends up being a cold line, than it may all be for nothing. I shortly receive a text from Jeff's secondary number saying that the jobs being handled, in a few minutes a feed popped up from my screen. I went to work for a short while and managed to get separate feeds for different areas of the town. I then texted Jeff if he could put up a few filters for me, and also attached a photo I had found of Jack Frost. With this it will greatly narrow down the work needed if he does mangle his way in. After a while my feed was updated and the modifications made were displayed on the top right corner. Alright, this will do. Now all I gotta do is sit back and wait. It must of been at least an hour while I was doing some work on my guns when Lily came running in.

  "THAT BASTARD HAS GOT TO DIE"

  "What do you mean?"

  If she means Jack Frost, then she probably found something serious. She throws down a few pieces of paper on my desk and then continues angrily.

  "Jack has been low on guns for a while now, that is until he made a deal with the Blue Mitts"

  The Blue Mitts huh, that could spell some trouble if this is going where I think it is. Lily continues.

  "He set up a trap for the Blue Mitts, secretly tipped off some police and on the time of the trade they were raided and most of them were caught. In the chaos of all this Jack was able to get some free guns. I read most of this from rumors circulating around the net. The Blue Mitts operate quite a way from here so it would explain why the sightings of Jack didn't necessary reach this area"

  I had realized what this all broke down into, and if it is true, than all the more reason why this guy should be taken down. Without realizing, he's doing a lot more damage behind the scenes. I can guess what Lily had in mind before she said it.

  "And if that's true, than that must mean that the remaining Blue Mitts wanted revenge, and the only person they could think of that could sell them out was my dad"

  "Before we make that conclusion, there's a few questions you need to answer to prove you can back up what you're saying. First of all Jack was the person there, naturally wouldn't you think he did it?"

  "Yes, but the raid happened during the transaction. The Blue Mitts work in two ways. They first show the buyer the gun and then move into another area to deal the money. He made it look like it was all a coincidence"

  "Putting aside the poor trading skills of the Blue Mitts, why you dad? Once again it's been ten years"

  " This is just a hunch of course and I could be totally wrong. But after my dad had left the Blue Mitts, they had gotten countless informants, many have died and many were just not as skilled. Most of them were loyal of course and stayed till the very end. The only living informant of the Blue Mitts that they confirmed was my dad, and they just jumped to the conclusion that he was the one who sold them out, they didn't need a reason, they jus
t needed someone to vent their anger over"

  I considered Lily's reasoning. It's a bit of a stretch to think that he caused all of this but, in a way it's not completely impossible. Even if this is true it won't make me any more hell bent over killing Jack Frost. In any way, putting my emotions first is the last thing I should do. Even if it degrades me, the last thing you want is to act without thinking. I was planning to take out Jack Frost anyway. Adding this into the fire at this moment won't really affect me, but if it gives Lily a peace of mind than I guess letting her believe it to be true is the only thing I can do. And on the off chance it is true that all these events were connected, all the more reason that this guy should go down. I try to calm down Lily.

  "Alright, even if you tell me this now It won't make me kill him any faster, trust me he WILL go down, with your reasons or not"

  Lily replies with a monotone voice with a hint of sadness.

  "I know, I just needed a way to vent out my own feelings, funny huh"

  "It'll be alright, thanks for telling me all this, for now, all we can do is wait"

  "Okay"

  Lily leaves my room and heads back into her own. It's time to wait for Jack Frost to stroll his way into his own death. Considering his status, he might be a problem if I take him lightly, but It won't matter if I get the jump on him first. All I can do now is rest up.

  Chapter 18

  It was a cold and windy day, the surveillance work has been slow, today's the last day that I have this up, if he isn't gonna crash here, than I might have to track him down myself. And who knows where he's holed up. But I still have time, I better at least be prepared if he arrives. Sometimes, days like these when I'm just waiting for my target, they always seem so slow. I pack up a few of my things and decide to head to an old bar down at the sewers. Maybe I can waste a few hours shooting at practice dummies, it is well known for its combat oriented style. And maybe I could spar with a few random people. But for the type of thing I do, that isn't what I expect I would be getting. I head over to Lily's room. She's on her computer doing some research. I tell her.

  "I'll be going out for a while, if you see any change in the feed, call me immediately"

  "Alright, where you headed?"

  "Just a little bar"

  "You must be doing well if you have time to go out and drink"

  "You overestimate me, I'm not the drinking type"

  "A battle bar?"

  "Oh, so you've heard"

  "Yeah, I've only ever heard of rumors"

  "It is hard to come across one, but once you do find one, you can strangely get addicted to it"

  "Alright then, don't get yourself killed now"

  "Heh, who do you think you're talking to?"

  "See ya"

  I head out and opened the nearest entrance to the sewers. I carefully climb down and begin navigating my way through the sewers. I soon find myself looking at a door with a faded name plate. The words "Bar" are hardly visible. I knock once, step back from the door and then slowly turn the handle. I leave the door slightly open, and then knock once more. I then push the door fully open and step in. I'm greeted by glares from the people inside, it seems to be a busy day today, the seats of most of the tables are taken and the bar tender has his hands full from giving drinks, and ammo. I walk towards a door labeled, "Range" and opened it . There's an empty slot at the end of the shooting range. Guns cover the walls and the sound of gunfire echoes through the room. I take a small pistol and some ear protectors. The grip of the pistol brings back some memories . Back then when I was still starting off and had almost nothing, it was tough. My skills were a lot more rusty and I could hardly hold myself in a fight, no strategy at all I just went and fought without thinking. I got into a few of my first fights in this exact bar, funny how stupid I was back then, I thought I was pretty big stuff, little did I know I was as weak as the guys who I fought with.

  I was shooting at the range practicing my aim, my bullets hitting near the red bulls eye on the target at the end of the range. I reach for another magazine when I notice at the corner of my eye that someone was walking towards me.

  I turn to look at the person coming, he stops in front of me and with a gun pointed at me he says.

  "I heard you think your some kind of hot shot around here"

  "Heh, what gave you the impression of that"

  "Judging by all the challenges I heard you did, and judging by what you say around here, it's hard to miss"

  "So what, this is a battle bar, isn't that natural that you would find fights here"

  "Yeah, that maybe so, but when you hear about some arrogant kid thinking he's the king of this bar, than that makes you wonder"

  "You give me too much credit"

  "Hah, and here I thought you were some tough guy, you're just like any little kid, I could destroy you easily"

  I stopped and looked at him once more. He was a middle aged man who had a strong build and dark skin. From shear muscles alone he could probably pack a punch, I felt a little nervous, but if it's just another opponent than he's all the same. There's nothing to be afraid of, I reply to him.

  "How about I take you up on that"

  A small grin appears on his face as he replies.

  "Hah, you sure got guts if you think you can win, kid, alright let's do this"

  We both head out of the shooting range and into another room across the bar. The door was labeled "Match". We both entered and waited. A couple of matches were already on going. These fights would be monitored by a judge to ensure that we don't go overboard and kill our opponent. In the off chance that we do, the judge has the right to shoot us right there and then. It was basically a no rules match, we could use anything we wanted, the only thing holding us back were our prides, if we did dirty tricks in a match like this while anyone could watch, it could be quite risky. The battle field was a large ring in the center that stretched to the size of a small room. We weren't allowed to use real bullets, instead we were given minor practice bullets that still packed a punch. Anything else was free game, of course we weren't stupid enough to throw a grenade here. There was an unspoken rule here that if the fighters on the ring were aiming at a spectator than it was open season for them. Finally we were up. We stepped up on the ring, and exchanged a few words.

  "You're gonna regret saying you could destroy me"

  "A kid like you could barely scratch me"

  I take out my knife and steady my movements. He took out a few gloves and put them on, they looked like leather, but had a few steel encrusted parts through the design. I took the first move and charged at him with my knife. I stabbed towards his chest, he dodged and threw a punch towards my face, I moved my head towards the side to dodge, he immediately followed up with a kick to my sides. I staggered back and tried to regain my balance. I continued by slashing him diagonally, he dodged and threw a punch towards my face, this time I blocked with my left arm. I could feel my arm going slowly numb. He took this chance to throw another punch, I ducked. I aimed my knife towards his stomach, but he quickly used his other arm to grab mines and threw a punch towards my face. It had hit me and I was down. He slowly walked towards me. The pain had been a sharp sting and was slowly fading away. He raised his foot and stomped down towards me. I quickly rolled out of the way and got up. I quickly charged at him one last time and stabbed towards his chest. At that moment I had known that it was all over. He stopped my knife using his gloves. I didn't notice at first but his palm was covered in steel. He gave me a small grin and proceeded to throw another punch towards my face. The judge had called it off, and I laid there in defeat. He came to me and with a confident voice said.

  "Hah, you really are a kid, you aren't so tough"

  It was one of many pointless battles that I had in this bar, looking back, I never really was that well of a fighter, and If I had gone through the training I went through now, those guys back then wouldn't had seemed intimidating at all, small fry at best.

  I put down my gun and returne
d to the main section of the bar. Just as I was settling down I received a message on my phone. I quickly read it, the sender was Lily.

  "Jack Frost just came in, he's at the old arcade at Arrow Street"

  Heh, looks like he really did show up, lucky me. I quickly ran out of the bar and went back to the surface. I checked my phone for his location, and gave Lily a text.